Home Sales Falling, Condo & Foreclosure Auctions Rising
After a brief head-fake upward in December, the number of existing homes sold in January fell 5.3 percent in January; the January number was slightly higher than November and 8.6 percent lower than a year earlier. And the cheery news doesn’t stop there: The median home price dropped to $170,300, the lowest level since March…
After a brief head-fake upward in December, the number of existing homes sold in January fell 5.3 percent in January; the January number was slightly higher than November and 8.6 percent lower than a year earlier. And the cheery news doesn’t stop there: The median home price dropped to $170,300, the lowest level since March 2003. Given this backdrop, it’s no surprise that condo developers are turning increasingly to companies that specialize in auctions to move blocks of unsold units, as The Times reports today; as the auction trend hits New York, Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel predicts market-clearing prices 40 to 45 percent below the asking prices of a year ago. Meanwhile, sales volume is rising in some of the hardest-hit markets, a sign, theorizes Floyd Norris, that banks are getting more aggressive is their approach to foreclosure sales.
Home Sales and Prices Continue to Plummet [NY Times]
And Do I Hear $2 Million? No? [NY Times]
Foreclosure Sales Continue [NY Times]
Graphic from The New York Times
Even as I write the post above another article appears….
Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) — Distressed assets offer the best
investment opportunities this year as the global recession
deepens, billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson said.
“The decline in the market has created a very good buying opportunity,†Paulson, 53, whose New York-based Paulson & Co. oversees about $30 billion, said in a speech at a hedge-fund seminar hosted by Societe Generale and Lyxor Asset Management in Tokyo today. “Distressed opportunity in the U.S. is shaping up to be the best opportunity in a lifetime.â€
Paulson said he’s focused on assets such as mortgages and debt from bankrupt companies, while in the equities markets he cited the utilities, consumer staples and pharmaceutical industries.
“Sell all the toxic crap to the American Tax Slave, Huh Dave? Private entities Dave and who is that??? The private entities have lost hugh amounts of money and they don’t want to play anymore.”
What…if you don’t know what you’re talking about, please don’t talk about it. For one thing, Goldman Sachs has been buying huge amounts of these mortgages and other paper. So have many smaller property related funds. The markets are definitely starting to move on this stuff.
You get the STFU Award today.
I’m guessing that Obama’s announced plan to increase taxes on $250K plus earners, and cap state/city income deductions as well, in concert with the city’s discussed plan to increase income taxes on $250K plus earners will be a double whammy on the disposable income of that group and will put downward pressure on prime brooklyn prices, which have been failry unscathed compared to non-prime.
I do agree the inventory numbers seems high…many in construction will not get finished, and many more will go rental for a few years. But on the other side, many in contract are walking
And the condo market is still part of the market, it will send waves across the coop and brownstone market, it is all about comparables. There is a select group that will never live in a condo, but most buyers are looking for the right space and the right location, regardless of whether it is a condo, brownstone, coop, townhouse or cardboard box
I too wonder if things would get better behind a media blackout on this topic. No one seems to be interested in doing anything about this except putting forth gloom and doom reports. News media thrives on the fear factor. I’m still waiting for someone, anyone, to put forth an alternative solution to the crisis instead of simply criticizing it and spouting random numbers. (Ok, the numbers may not be random, but to my uneducated eye they seem to be) I don’t know if a total resolution would be had in a month, but I don’t see how a blackout could be a bad thing.
“What has changed is that they are now able to package the bad loans and sell them to the government and other private entities. Yes, bad loans are being bought now in large numbers.”
Sell all the toxic crap to the American Tax Slave, Huh Dave? Private entities Dave and who is that??? The private entities have lost hugh amounts of money and they don’t want to play anymore.
“This is huge news. If auctions of condos begin, team bear will see there 40%+ drop in NY real estate. If the Times numbers are correct, 8,000 current condo units in NYC available, another 22,000 available by the end of next year, at the same time Wall Street is being significantly downsized…it is only a matter of time”
No the time is NOW! Take a walk over to Williamsburg and look up. There are tons of Condos coming online this spring and this glut will have a Blast-Effect on Housing prices…
RIP Mutant Asset Bubble…
The What (Look like the Obama pixie dust is wearing off)
Someday this war is gonna end…
Need to focus on the data. This data is for single family homes that average $170,000 in price. If you think that’s representative of anywhere close to NYC you’ve got your head up your ass.
As far as NYC is concerned its the condo market that is troublesome. First of all, many of these condos that are supposedly in the inventory are by no means near completion and the developers have halted construction or are bankrupt. Secondly, as we’ve seen here many times with threads on this, that or another specific development, the quality is no where near representative of what the asking prices had been. They are in fact, rubbish.
I’m willing to bet that if Obama stopped talking and the news media was turned off, for lets say 1 month, everything would stabilize.
I think articles like those posted and the “doom and gloom” talk, from both the President and the media, are what’s driving things down.
Of course home sales are down, everyone keeps saying the economy has a long way to fall and developers are freaking out and auctioning off units. Just as people bought on the way up to avoid getting “priced out”, people are not buying now to avoid buying “before the bottom”.
No media coverage and no announcements from the White House, a total media/topic blackout, and this problem will be resolved in 1 month.
.02
This is huge news. If auctions of condos begin, team bear will see there 40%+ drop in NY real estate. If the Times numbers are correct, 8,000 current condo units in NYC available, another 22,000 available by the end of next year, at the same time Wall Street is being significantly downsized…it is only a matter of time